Realtor Connie Kramer relocates dogs in need

Connie Kramer finds homes – for people and for dogs. A realtor and a dog rescuer, she is the head of Retro Doggie Rescue of Commerce Township, which specializes in finding homes for small breeds, older and special needs dogs.

The rescue’s original name was Pet Realtors, which she started with another realtor. She laughs that when she got a cease and desist letter from the National Association of Realtors, she realized “I was paying dues to sue myself.” Her son, a lawyer, said to “just get over it and pick another name.” Retro Doggy, she says, sounded cute and didn’t mean anything.

But the mission of the organization means everything to Kramer.

Her deep connection with animals began, she says, with one of her earliest memories. She was laying with her head on her childhood pet, a German shepherd named Vala Von Liebestraum, “and I remember thinking I was safe.”

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She started her rescue career transporting animals. Transport organizations coordinate rides for rescued animals to homes across the city, state or country by breaking down routes into segments as short as 60 minutes and assigning a local volunteer to each leg.

“It’s very, very important and it’s very, very fulfilling to be part of that chain,” says Kramer, who says she enjoyed being with animals for that short time, getting to take them out, play with them and then turn them over to the next driver. “I loved transport. I did that for years. It’s like being a grandparent.”

Her introduction to coordinating a rescue came 15 years ago when 43 German shepherds were rescued from a Canadian breeder. “Right into the fire,” says Kramer, who coordinated with other rescues, kennel owners, and out of state German shepherd rescues, fostering some of the dogs herself, and placing some with her sister. Each of the dogs was eventually placed.

Though she is a lifelong German shepherd lover, Kramer ended up running a small dog rescue because of a yorkie named Bently. Bently was meant for Kramer’s father who ended up being too ill to take the dog. “So I, the German shepherd lover, who thought that a Yorkshire terrier was something to attach a broom handle to, found myself in possession of the world’s worst Yorkie,” says Kramer.

“He didn’t like anyone but me, he marked his entire life, barked incessantly and I loved him desperately. I lost Bently about three years ago and miss him every day”

At one time, Kramer had 21 birds in her home, for which she built an aviary in her sunroom.

“I‘ve had a few different kinds of animals over my life. What can I say? I just love them.” I always felt that I was very fortunate to be able to care for my animals.”

It breaks her heart, she says, to go to the vet and see people who cannot afford to save their animals’ lives. Part of Retro Doggy’s mission is to help pet owners care for their own animals whenever they can.

Sometimes the care or the medical expenses are too much for an owner, or the owner goes into assisted living, leaving an animal too old or ill to be cared for in a shelter.

Retro Doggy Rescue is a network of 8 foster homes that are able to tend to a dog who needs special treatment or extensive medical care until they are found a “forever” home.

“I might be the director. I might offer the financial support,” says Kramer, “but our rescue would not exist without them. These are people who have signed on for guaranteed heartbreak. To let them go over and over again – it’s hard. It’s a tough thing to do. What they do takes my breath away.”

Although not everyone is equipped to foster, says Kramer, everyone can “find a way to touch an animal’s life. There are so many ways to do it. You can foster. You can transport, you can donate, you can adopt. What I tell people is to dig in their wallets or dig in their hearts. Just dig somewhere.”